International

Man stoned to death as protesters riot over plans to chop down rainforest

A MOB stoned to death an Asian man in Uganda yesterday and two other people were killed during a protest against plans to cut down nearly a third of a rainforest reserve to grow sugarcane.

Troops in armoured cars were deployed in central Kampala after police fired tear gas and bullets to stop rioters attacking Asian businesses and a Hindu temple, angered by moves to expand an Indian-owned company's sugar plantations.

As scores of demonstrators threw stones at police, officers rescued more than 100 Asian men besieged in a Hindu temple and elsewhere, and rushed them to a police station. Dozens were arrested. "We were inside the temple and the protesters started attacking us," said Dipaul Patel, 50. "It was frightening."

The scenes were a sharp reminder of 1972, when the late former dictator Idi Amin expelled Uganda's Asians. Thousands have returned, but are viewed with suspicion by some Ugandans.

One Indian supermarket owner said rioters pulled him from his motorbike and beat him. "I am blaming the police for this," he said. Police chiefs had approved yesterday's march against plans by the sugar company Scoul to cut down thousands of acres of Mabira Forest.

Frank Muramuzi, the march organiser, said it began peacefully, before a "misunderstanding" with police. "All of a sudden, they opened fire with tear gas and live ammunition," he said.

The controversy began last year when Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, ordered a study into whether to axe 17,000 acres - nearly a third - of Mabira. It

has been a nature reserve since 1932 and is one of Uganda's last natural forests.

The government's proposal angered some parliamentarians and residents. Environmentalists say destroying Mabira could have grave ecological consequences, from increased soil erosion to the drying up of rivers and rainfall, and the removal of a buffer against polluting the nearby Lake Victoria.

In a newspaper ad yesterday, Scoul said "anti-development lobby groups" were misleading the public about its plans.

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• Uganda
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Last updated: 12-Apr-07 00:11 BST